North Yorkshire Council announced 10 proposals this week to reduce congestion and make streets safer in the west of Harrogate.

The schemes, which would cost a total of £585,000, revolve around the Otley Road area, where just one of three planned phases of a cycle path has been completed.

Work is unlikely to begin until the 2024/25 financial year.

The 10 proposals were overshadowed by the same day announcement of a 20mph zone covering seven schools in Pannal Ash and Oatlands.

But if adopted, the schemes would have a considerable impact on the streets in one of the most congested parts of Harrogate.

The council’s Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee is due to discuss the proposals at a meeting on Thursday.

Here are the proposals.

1 Signal upgrade at Cold Bath Road / Otley Road / Arthurs Avenue junction

Cost: £200,000

Signal equipment will be upgraded to link with signals at Pannal Ash Road Junction. Some kerb lines could be amended to make the footpaths wider. The aims is to improve traffic movement and congestion between the two signalised junctions.

2 Bus stop improvements on Otley Road corridor

Cost: £50,000

Bus stops will be relocated “to reflect current services”. Kerbs and signs will be improved in a move the council says will “improve facilities and accessibility around bus stops along Otley Road to reflect latest changes to bus services in the area”.

3 Extending the 20mph limit on Cold Bath Road to the junction with Otley Road and on surrounding roads

Cost: £100,000

Traffic calming measures will also include “formalising parking arrangements and installation of double yellow lines” to “reduce speed and enhance the local environment to bring the area forward as a pleasant place to walk, wheel and cycle”.

4 Improve the pedestrian crossing outside Falcon Chiropractic on Cold Bath Road

The crossing due to be upgraded

Cost £5,000

The signals cabinet will be relocated to the opposite side of the road where the pavement is wider. A raised table will also be introduced to calm traffic. Cycle storage and refuse bin will also be relocated “to improve accessibility around the pedestrian crossing that is currently blocked by other infrastructure placed on the highway”.

5 Improve the crossing between the public right of way on Green Lane and Ashville College

Cost: £10,000

A build-out crossing will be installed to improve visibility emerging from the public right of way and to slow traffic at the uncontrolled crossing point. The scheme will “improve visibility for pedestrians and cyclists emerging from the bridleway”.

6 Install an uncontrolled crossing point near Western Primary School

Cost: £10,000

A ‘build-out’ uncontrolled crossing point will be installed outside the school. Some parking bays could be amended and the double yellow lines extended “to provide a safer place to cross near the school in addition to providing some minor traffic calming and preventing illegal parking at the junction”.

Read more:

• Landmark Harrogate road safety and transport package unveiled
• New bar opens on Harrogate’s Cold Bath Road today

7 Review cycle route signs

Cost: £25,000

Review and improve signing of the cycle routes across Harrogate “to improve awareness of cycle routes across the network in Harrogate”.

8 20mph zone outside Harrogate Grammar School on Arthurs Avenue.

Cost: £25,000

The zone will incorporate Cundall Way, Southway, Grasmere Crescent, Rossett Way, Arthurs Close, Arthurs Grove, Richmond Avenue, Richmond Road, Richmond Close and Richmond Holt to enhance the environment and make streets feel safer.

9 New cycle parking and improved public realm on Cold Bath Road

Cost: £10,000

Introduce a parklet by extending the pavements to provide more space for cycle parking or for people to rest.

10 Improvements to Nursery Lane to allow cyclists to use as an off-road leisure route

Cost: £100,000

The lane could become a cycle track to provide additional off-road infrastructure for cyclists. However, third party land would be required.

There were delays at the Prince of Wales roundabout in the centre of Harrogate this morning.

Cones were placed around the roundabout reducing traffic to one lane – Leeds Road and Otley Road were also reduced to one lane approaching the roundabout.

The roadworks were not listed on North Yorkshire County Council’s roadworks map and were removed by lunchtime.

Read More: 

• Weather warning for wind issued for Harrogate district on Friday
• Four crews deal with barn fire in village near Harrogate

Transport officials have been urged not to leave Harrogate’s Wetherby Road and Skipton Road out of long-awaited plans to tackle the town’s “chronic” congestion problems.

North Yorkshire County Council recently revealed it is exploring new proposals to ease traffic and improve safety on the A61/Leeds Road as part of its Harrogate Transport Improvement Programme.

This comes after calls to revert the Parliament Street section of the road to two-way traffic were last year rejected by the authority which said the costs would exceed £30 million.

The latest plans could now include bus lanes, junction upgrades and cycling and walking improvements.

Also proposed is a Harrogate park and ride service, as well as a bypass around Killinghall where residents say the existing roads can no longer cope with the area’s population explosion.

Louise Neal, transport planning team leader at the county council, told a meeting on Wednesday that the A61/Leeds Road presented the “greatest opportunity” to tackle the town’s traffic jams through the measures that are being explored.

But councillors frustrated with slow progress have questioned why there is such a great focus on the road when others are suffering from similar congestion woes.

Traffic queueing on Skipton Road.

Councillor Pat Marsh, leader of the local Liberal Democrats, said Wetherby Road and Skipton Road needed to be given greater consideration as they are the “busiest” in the town. She said:

“You have only got to go to the Empress Roundabout to see that.

“On Wetherby Road the traffic tails back so far it is unbelievable. Why that road is not being looked at I do not know.”

Councillor Marsh also said the “biggest issue” in her Stray, Woodlands and Hookstone division was the decline of bus services as she also argued that there is potential for a park and ride scheme to serve passengers from the Great Yorkshire Showground.

Read more:

• Nidderdale road to be repaired — nearly three years after storm damage
• Could Harrogate’s ‘little temple’ be moved to ‘neglected’ Starbeck?

After looking at more than 100 possible park and ride sites, the county council is focusing on the A61 as it wants the scheme to link with the 36 bus service.

‘It just goes on forever’

Although more detailed plans could finally be revealed next year, there is still frustration that all the proposed measures to cut congestion could still be several years away despite the alarm bells ringing over climate change.

Fairfax and Starbeck Liberal Democrat councillor Philip Broadbank said:

“The number of reports, consultants and investigations we have – it just goes on forever.

“Skipton Road 30 years ago was the most congested road in North Yorkshire and there were all sorts of promises then.

“We now need to focus, get on and deliver.”

After launching in 2019, the Harrogate Transport Improvement Programme has been hit by recent delays because the work is “extremely time consuming and complex,” the county council said.

It added the latest data gathering stage will take several more months to complete, with a report on the next steps to be revealed “in the first half of 2023”.

Candidates standing for the upcoming North Yorkshire Council elections were quizzed by an audience in Harrogate last night.

The Stray Ferret held an election hustings chaired by editor John Plummer at the Wesley Centre ahead of a landmark polling day for the town.

Questions on housing and congestion featured heavily on the night, as well as the environment, the Stray and a Harrogate town council.

Voters will head to the polls on May 5 to elect councillors to the new North Yorkshire Council.

The election will be the last before the authority replaces North Yorkshire County Council and seven district councils, including Harrogate Borough Council, in what will prove to be the biggest shakeup in local government since the 1970s.

Labour, the Liberal Democrats, Green Party and Independents all attended the hustings on Tuesday evening – but the Conservatives declined.

You can watch the full hustings below.

Housing and congestion

The candidates first faced a question on how they would ensure roads and local services could cope with ongoing housebuilding in Harrogate.

Labour’s Chris Watt, who is standing in Fairfax and Starbeck division, said:

“The first thing I would do is work with local residents to oppose housing developments where there is not adequate infrastructure.”

He pointed to developments on Kingsley Drive as an example.

Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Fairfax and Starbeck, Philip Broadbank, said he felt the council should encourage more people out of cars.

He said:

“We have to encourage people to get out of there cars and use them less.

“We also need investment in public transport.”

(From left) Bill Rigby, Chris Watt, John Plummer, Philip Broadbank and Sarah Hart.

Bill Rigby, who is standing for the Green Party in Killinghall, Hampsthwaite and Saltergate, said the number of cars on the road needed to be reduced.

“The main way you can reduce the traffic is by reducing the number of cars.”

Sarah Hart, Independent candidate for Harlow and St George’s, said:

“We need the right homes in the right places.

“We need more homes for local people who work here. And they should be in suitable locations.”T

Town council and the Stray

Meanwhile, the candidates were also asked about how the Stray would be used under the new council and who would look after it.

Mr Watt said:

“There should be a local community work on the Stray.”

He added that people should be involved in what happens with the Stray and what events are held on it.

Mr Rigby agreed that local people should be involved in deciding what happens with the Stray.

“I agree that the community should be involved in its management.”

He added that he would support the introduction of a town council to take control of the Stray.

Ms Hart agreed that the community should look after the Stray and supported creating a Harrogate Town Council.

“If there is a Harrogate Town Council, then they should protect it.”

Mr Broadbank said that the Stray was “unique” and added that Valley Gardens should also be considered for events too.

Hustings in full

The candidates also fielded questions on a Killinghall bypass, the environment and opposition parties working together.

You can watch the full debate below.

A transport assessment that suggests Persimmon Homes’ 181-home development on Kingsley Drive will not significantly increase traffic in the area has been called ‘fundamentally flawed’ by a Harrogate building surveyor.

The housebuilder submitted its latest proposal for the site this month after a larger development for 217 homes was rejected by councillors last year.

Persimmon commissioned transport consultant Bryan G Hall to undertake a transport assessment to assess how the homes would impact nearby roads.

At over 500 pages long, his report includes measurements, surveys and conclusions about traffic in the area.

It found the impact of the extra homes on local roads would not be ‘severe’.

The report concluded:

“The residual cumulative impact of the proposed residential development on the road network cannot be considered to be ‘severe’ and there are therefore no traffic or highways related reasons why planning permission should not be granted for this site.”

Visuals of the Persimmon Homes plan for Kingsley Drive.

However, Steve Marshall, owner of surveyors Airedale Surveys and a member of Kingsley Ward Action Group, spent five days reviewing the document, which he called on the council to reject.

Mr Marshall said this was because one of the traffic surveys took place when part of Kingsley Drive was closed due to roadworks.

He also said the report ignored how the extra homes will impact the nearby Empress roundabout.

Disputed surveys

Mr Marshall disputed a claim in the report that Rydal Road, Birstwith Road and Leyland Road, which all have junctions with Kingsley Drive and Knaresborough Road, were not being used as ‘rat runs’.

North Yorkshire County Council, which is in charge of roads in the district, had specifically asked Persimmon to look at the rat run issue in the transport assessment, as well as how fast vehicles were travelling on the three roads.

Persimmon undertook traffic surveys on the roads from July 31 to August 6 2020 but Mr Marshall said this took place when part of Kingsley Drive was closed.

“The bottom half of Kingsley Drive was shut due to road works during the whole period of the survey. This means no one had access to the three surveyed roads along the rat run route.”

Read more:

• Plea for ‘moratorium’ on controversial 181-home Kingsley development
• Starbeck residents pledge to fight 181-home Kingsley Drive plans ‘tooth and nail’

Mr Marshall criticised the report for not taking into account trips generated at two nearby housing developments of 165 homes.

He also said the surveys did not factor in how the homes would impact the Empress roundabout and the Granby Road/Skipton Road junction during rush hour.

Mr Marshall wrote:

“This roundabout causes massive queues at rush hour despite Harrogate Borough Council’s Transport Background Paper of August 2018 saying it is not a problem junction.

“There cannot be any justification for allowing this development as it stands if one of the key assessments and the subject uppermost in the minds of local residents, ie the traffic assessment, is fundamentally flawed.”

Persimmon’s response

In February, representatives from Persimmon, as well as highways consultant Geoff Bowman from Bryan G Hall, fielded questions from residents in Starbeck about the plans, which included the transport assessment.

Residents queried Mr Bowman about the traffic surveys and suggested they did not give an accurate picture of how many cars use the area.

Mr Bowman said:

“There has been very extensive surveys of traffic in the area. There is a perception that we are nasty developers and it’s dead easy to get through planning, but the highways authority are rigorous.”

The Stray Ferret asked Persimmon Homes for a response but we had not received one by the time of publication.

If every home in Harrogate district’s Local Plan is built there could be an extra 26,500 cars on Harrogate’s already gridlocked roads, analysis from the Stray Ferret has found.  

Many feel congestion on the district’s roads has already reached crisis point:   

Phil’s story  

Phil I’Anson owns HG Heat in Harrogate and services boilers across the district. He told the Stray Ferret that in ordinary times traffic is crippling his business and could force him to relocate from Harrogate, which has been his home all his life. 

Mr I’Anson said traffic has “gone crazy” in the four years since he set up his business, and it’s having a significant impact on his company’s bottom line. 

“I spend approximately two to three hours a day in traffic in Harrogate. It costs me one or two jobs a day. That’s £150 a day and 20% of my earning capability.” 

He said that it appears to him that neither HBC nor NYCC “has any control” over the congestion. “The builders seem to just do whatever they want,” he said. 

Mr I’Anson also said that the impact of facing Harrogate’s traffic day after day is affecting his mental health. 

“The most stressful thing I do isn’t running my company, it’s the traffic and driving around Harrogate. The work I can handle, but the traffic is what is stressful.” 

And Mr I’Anson is not alone in his concern.

No strategic approach 

Because Harrogate was unable to control where houses were built, it’s led to particular pressure points such as Skipton Road, where traffic regularly grinds to a standstill throughout the day. 

At the time of writing, there are 15 new housing developments at various stages of construction in Harrogate, with trucks buzzing in and out transporting building materials from outside the district. 

In October residents in the Whinney Lane area submitted their objections to a 270 house development to HBC- every resident cited traffic as a major concern:

“the road infrastructure in the area is already woefully inadequate to accommodate this and other existing new developments..”

“Whinney Lane and Lady Lane are country roads which are not capable of supporting additional traffic of at least 270 homes”

“traffic assessments cannot be viewed simply in terms of the increased traffic from a single proposal without looking at the cumulative impact of several developments in the area” 

And it’s this cumulative impact that is causing serious problems for businesses like Mr I’Anson’s. 

“I’ll move out of Harrogate. It’s just crazy. It’s spoiling the town for me.  

“We haven’t got the infrastructure to keep building the houses they are building. At some point, it will become just gridlock but I’ll be gone by then hopefully. Where does it end?”

Harrogate’s gridlocked future?

Our figure of 26,500 extra cars comes from a North Yorkshire County Council formula.  

The authority controls roads in the Harrogate district and asks each developer to include a set number of car parking spaces for every home they build.  

For a one– or two-bedroom home, the minimum requirement is one space, but for three bedrooms and over it’s two spaces. 

We analysed the number of bedrooms in different housing developments across the district to project a total figure of 26,500. 

The real figure could be higher- according to a 2018 report by North Yorkshire County Council.  33,000 people who currently live in Harrogate and Knaresborough fall into the top 10% wealthiest people in the UK, which is almost a third of all people living in the two towns. 

A government survey of household car ownership by income group found that 26% of people in this financial bracket own three or more cars, with more than 43% owning two. 

As developers aim to maximise profits and build large homes to target high earners, those new owners will inevitably arrive with more cars.  

Read more on our housing series: 

• Housing Investigation: New homes out of reach for too many locals

• Investigation: Harrogate targeted for development during planning chaos
• Housing case study: 75 homes forced on Killinghall after appeal
• Housing Investigation: infrastructure at breaking point?

Public transport 

Public transport could hold the key to unlocking Harrogate’s congestion problems. However, according to NYCC’s congestion survey last year, just 6% of regular commuters in Harrogate will get the bus. 

While some areas of the district, such as Killinghall, parts of Knaresborough and Ripon, are well served by Transdev buses, there are other pockets where housing is planned that have inadequate, or non-existent, bus services. 

Kingsley Road is one of Harrogate’s main pressure points for new housing, with more than 600 homes mooted for development in the Local Plan, yet the nearest bus stop is half a mile away on Knaresborough Road. The furthest reaches of the planned development will be almost a mile away from the nearest bus stop. 

Then there is the 600-home Manse Farm development on York Road, Knaresborough, which is served by the number 21 bus into the town centre, but it only stops nearby every hour and 40 minutes – and doesn’t run at all on a Sunday or after 5.15pm. 

The 125-home Harlow Hill Grange development near Beckwithshaw, meanwhile, is not served by any bus routes. The number 6, into central Harrogate, has its closest stop more than half a mile away, up a steep section of Otley Road. 

The half-hourly service stops running at 7pm on weeknights and Saturdays. On Sundays, an hourly service runs until just after 6pm. 

For an elderly couple wanting to do a small shop in town, or a family going out for a meal, easy access to a frequent bus service at the right time could be the difference between using a car and not. 

Accepted congestion problems 

For Harrogate’s cycling community, the key to unlocking congestion is on two wheels. 

Recently the government awarded NYCC £1million pounds to create additional cycle routes and walkways.  But the construction of bespoke cycle routes (such as the one on Otley Road) has been painfully slow. Unless there is a rapid expansion of cycle routes in the next few years, many new home owners will be wedded to their cars. 

According to North Yorkshire County Council’s congestion survey, the average car journey in the town is less than 1.6 miles. 

But since NYCC scrapped plans for a controversial “relief road” through the Nidd Gorge, there has been little progress in tackling congestion around Harrogate.  It means any roadworks such as the recent ones on Skipton road can bring the system to a standstill. 

For many one of the very few joys of lockdown is how quiet the road network has been and the ease of moving around the district.

As normality returns next year Phil l’Anson and others like him will have to decide if the roads have become so congested he is forced to work elsewhere.

Tomorrow: in the final part of our housing series we’ll be looking at the environmental impact and sustainability of the new developments. 

If you want to get in touch with us about any aspect of this series please email us: contact@thestrayferret.co.uk